Tara Castellano, M.D.

Dr. Tara Castellano is a dual board-certified assistant professor of Gynecologic Oncology at LSU Health Sciences Center in New Orleans. Originally from the area, Dr. Castellano completed her medical education at LSU where she first fell in love with the subspecialty of gynecologic oncology. After completing her Obstetrics and Gynecology residency at University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, NC, and then completed a fellowship in Gynecologic Oncology at the University of Oklahoma.

As a Gynecologic Oncology fellow, Dr. Castellano focused on clinical trial design and was selected for the prestigious ASCO/AACR Junior Investigator Clinical Trial Workshop in Vale, Colorado and was awarded scholarships to attend the NRG oncology meetings. Her selected ASCO/AACR clinical trial protocol was developed and opened at the Stephenson Cancer Center as an investigator-initiated trial invesitigting novel treatment combinations in high-risk endometrial cancer patients. This trial is currently expanded to patients at UMC in New Orleans. During fellowship she received specialized training in complex surgery, chemotherapy, and novel therapies to treat gynecologic cancers.

As Junior faculty at LSUHSC, Dr. Castellano is an active member of the Society of Gynecologic Oncology, the NRG young investigator committee and the GOG investigators council as a Clinical Trial Equity/Patient Advocacy Committee member. Dr. Castellano is an active scholar and mentor in the Robert A. Winn Diversity in Clinical Trials Career Development program as well as in the NIH Early Investigator Advancement Program. Dr. Castellano’s research interests include clinical trial design, quality initiative models, identification and elimination of health disparities and improvements in cancer care delivery. She has published and nationally presented dozens of scientific abstracts and articles over the past several years and is academically active in research, resident training, and community engagement.

RECENT FUNDING:
Funding amount: $30,000, 09/01/2021-08/31/2023 Source: NRG Oncology Health Equity New Investigator Mentor Program for Underrepresented Minority Scholars
Mentee PI: Castellano

Funding amount: $240,000 Source: The Bristol Myers Squibb Foundation (BMSF) in partnership with National Medical Fellowships (NMF)
Scholar PI: Castellano

Funding amount: $50,000, July 2018 – June 2019 Source: Oklahoma Shared Clinical and Translational Resources Clinical and Translational Research (OSCTR) Pilot Grants.
PI: J Walker

RECENT PUBLICATIONS:
2020 Developing a New Radiomics-based CT Image Marker to Detect Lymph Node Metastasis Among the Cervical Cancer Patients. Chen X, Liu W, Thai T, Castellano T, Gunderson CC, Moore KN, Mannel RS, Liu H, Zheng B. Computer Methods and Programs in Biomedicine. Comput Methods Programs Biomed. 2020 Dec;197:105759. doi: 10.1016/j.cmpb.2020.105759. Epub 2020 Sep 16. PMID: 33007594; PMCID: PMC7796823.

2020 Phase II trial of vaginal cuff brachytherapy followed by dose-dense chemotherapy in early stage endometrial cancer patients with enriched, high-intermediate risk factors for recurrence. Castellano T, Maxwell J, Walter AJ, Thompson S, McMeekin DS, Landrum LM Gynecologic Oncology. 2020 Dec 23:S0090-8258(20)34217-7. doi: 10.1016/j.ygyno.2020.12.014. PMID: 33358492.

2021 Recurrence risk of occult micrometastases and isolated tumor cells in early stage endometrial cancer: A case control study. Castellano T, Hassell L, Conrad R, et al. Gynecol Oncol Rep. 2021;37:100846. Published 2021 Aug 14. doi:10.1016/j.gore.2021.100846

2022 Clinical analysis of pathologic complete responders in advanced-stage ovarian cancer. LaFargue CJ, Handley KF, Fleming ND, Nick AM, Chelariu-Raicu A, Fellman B, Castellano T, Ogasawara A, Hom-Tedla M, Blake EA, da Costa AABA, Crim AK, Rauh-Hain A, Westin SN, Coleman RL, Matsuo K, Baiocchi G, Hasegawa K, Moore K, Sood AK. Gynecol Oncol. 2022 Apr;165(1):82-89. doi: 10.1016/j.ygyno.2022.02.006. Epub 2022 Feb 23. PMID: 35216808.

2022 Comparison of two restrictive discharge post-operative opioid approaches following gynecologic surgery. Tara Castellano, Grace Duininck Triston Coles, S. Chen, Megan Buechel, Christina Washington, Joan Walker. Gynecol Oncol. 2022 – submitted

2022 Factors associated with receipt of second-line recurrent or metastatic cervical cancer treatment in the United States: A retrospective administrative claims analysis. Sonawane K, Castellano T, Washington C, et al. Gynecol Oncol Rep. 2022;44:101121. Published 2022 Dec 13. doi:10.1016/j.gore.2022.101121 Gynecol Oncol Rep. 2022;44:101121.

2022 Cervical cancer geographical burden analyzer: An interactive, open-access tool for understanding geographical disease burden in patients with recurrent or metastatic cervical cancer [published online ahead of print, 2022 Dec 20]. Castellano T, Moore K, Ting J, et al. Gynecology Oncol. 2022;169:113-117. doi:10.1016/j.ygyno.2022.12.004